https://padlet.com/ssteinhauer23/f0dkj9s590cg 3 Questions en-us 2018-04-06 15:52:27 UTC 2021-11-19 06:03:35 UTC hello@padlet.com reidpellman https://padlet.com/ssteinhauer23/f0dkj9s590cg/wish/249285832 2018-04-06 16:14:01 UTC https://padlet.com/ssteinhauer23/f0dkj9s590cg/wish/249285832 ssteinhauer23 https://padlet.com/ssteinhauer23/f0dkj9s590cg/wish/250763257 Mrs. Bigeo doesen't like Mai Tai because she is not american.]]> 2018-04-11 15:16:21 UTC https://padlet.com/ssteinhauer23/f0dkj9s590cg/wish/250763257 ssteinhauer23 https://padlet.com/ssteinhauer23/f0dkj9s590cg/wish/250764193 Mrs. Baker starts to not be as mean.]]> 2018-04-11 15:17:52 UTC https://padlet.com/ssteinhauer23/f0dkj9s590cg/wish/250764193 ssteinhauer23 https://padlet.com/ssteinhauer23/f0dkj9s590cg/wish/250764841 Holling and his sister fight, but then forgive each other.]]> 2018-04-11 15:18:53 UTC https://padlet.com/ssteinhauer23/f0dkj9s590cg/wish/250764841 reidpellman https://padlet.com/ssteinhauer23/f0dkj9s590cg/wish/250768353 2018-04-11 15:25:00 UTC https://padlet.com/ssteinhauer23/f0dkj9s590cg/wish/250768353 ssteinhauer23 https://padlet.com/ssteinhauer23/f0dkj9s590cg/wish/1901379231 Genre: Historical
Rating: 8/10
It accomplishes its goal, but I can't exactly say this borderline legal treatise about the court system in France during the Hundred Years' War was the most exhilarating read I've ever had. It also spends quite a bit of time talking about castles, which isn't as fun as it sounds. These are moats and bailies, not some grand winter utopian fortress (which also has hundreds of spirits pushing people through machicolations during snow storms) that guards a realm from ice zombies and savages from the North. Alright, enough ASoIaF propagation. (Please read A Song of Ice and Fire. It is literally the greatest series of all time; don't @ me.) Anyways, this isn't that. Let's move on...and awwwaayyyy we go!


Ok, so, we're in France during the Hundred Years' War. For those of you that have hobbies and lives that don't include compulsively knowing as much about history as possible: The English have paid the French "homage" ever since William "the conqueror" conquered England from the Saxon king, Harold. This was because William was the Duke of Normandy (Northern France); he was beneath the King of France. Thus he must bow to and kiss his liege (the King of France). This dates back to some Viking chicanery, but we don't have time for that. MOVING ON! (like Edward III did with homage.)

SO, since dukes are like governors, and kings are presidents, the English had to pay homage (basically just say that the French were super duper cool and stuff).  But since the English were also kings, they didn't like this. They thought they were more super-duper than the French, and in 1328 they were proven to be correct. The French King, Charles IV, died! :)   AND HE HAD NO HEIR! Well, he had an unborn daughter, but since women/children/anyone that wasn't rich and had a big army+old times=probably not good, Edward III's (King of England) mother claimed the throne for him. His mother was also Charles' sister.

Inbreeding! (kinda)


Now, of course, the French nobility weren't gonna let an Englishman be king of FRANCE! So what they did was they found some guy named Valois and made him king. Edward said this was illegal and decided to start a conflict that would eventually lead to the downfall of his house and the installation of Richard III. SCARY!

Now that we have some context, let's get to the really annoying characters. (Except our good lady, Marguerite. She's just really sad.)

Jean de Carrouges: Military man, pious, dutiful, stoic, believes men should all be honest. He kind of reminds me of the puritans in The Crucible.

Jacques Le Gris: Up-and-coming squire who knows a few languages, how to have fun, and is good at womanizing [CSI: Miami Theme ironically plays]. He gets chummy with the liege (boss) of him and Jean and ends up inadvertently stealing all the land promised to Jean. This brews a rivalry between the two.

Marguerite: Nice young, intelligent, and beautiful woman. Her dad has betrayed the king twice, so prestigious people won't marry her. Jean doesn't care about that, though. He hates politics and needs money! She tends to the house when Jean is away and generally does a better job of it. She also--allegedly--gets raped by Jacques Le Gris. (This is why the duel happens.)


The settings are: Normandy (Alençon), Paris, and sometimes off at war with the English in Scotland or other boring parts of France.

Let's get the theme out of the way: Power, ironic heroism (Jean is made out to be about as bad as Jaques. He supposedly raped his wife quite often and seemed a bit dead inside.), significance of names, and roles of men, women, and religion (virtue vs. hypocrisy).

(This website is quite helpful when grappling with advanced topics, so... :)


End times: 
Alright...ok. Let's do this. 
So we start out with Jean and Jacques being friends, and both are also squires of the crown (like a sergeant in command of a squad). But then they have to go kiss their new boss because his dad died. (It's a French thing; don't worry about it.)

Jacques makes friends with the new boss (Pierre) by collecting the boss' taxes, one of which was land promised to Jean for his wedding gift. This specific land was important to his bride. Jean is angry. Jean sues Pierre and loses, badly. Like real bad. Later, Jean's dad dies, and instead of Jean getting his dad's castle, Jacques does. This is because Pierre hates Jean, because Pierre thinks Jean is super boring, and honestly, Pierre isn't wrong.

Later: We go to a party with Jacques, Marguerite, and Jean. Marguerite kisses Jacques because Jean tells her to. This was a weird thing to do. It causes Jacques to fall in love with Marguerite, and later, Jean goes to Scotland to fight English pig-dogs. He is knighted, comes back, visits his boss' house, and goes to Paris.

While he is in Paris, Jacques supposedly busts up into Jean's place and rapes his wife. Not cool. So Marguerite tells her husband, and he gets justifiably mad. He then tells all his (and his wife's) family and friends to start talking about the rape so people hear about it. They do this.

Jean challenges Jacques to trial by combat, and Jacques accepts. Jacques dies and Jean becomes the people's hero. Marguerite also gives birth about 9 months later to her only child. (Jean and Marguerite were married for years before this and never had a kid during that time.)

Also, the fact that she was pregnant did not provide evidence for rape, as science at the time said that rape could not produce a child, as it lacked the woman's satisfaction.]]> 2021-11-19 05:14:09 UTC https://padlet.com/ssteinhauer23/f0dkj9s590cg/wish/1901379231